Ravabeerbelly

Scored the winning goal in their 1-0 win today…
 

Just had a good check up and to add a bit of detail to it….
The sub appearance at 12mins was v Swindon where he set up the winner (although it didn’t count as an assist) and scored in a 3-1 win…highlights are here if interested (from 1:15 onwards)
If you took that game as effectively a start Crawley have only lost once in those 8 games - winning 4 drawing 3 and losing 1. Whereas they have lost 4 of the 5 games that he hasn’t started.…
Not sure why he hasn’t started those games but being on loan is often a tricky….and League 2 isn’t always very accommodating of a young attacking midfielder when much of the game is a physical battle with the ball spending a considerable time off the ground!
He does have the highest pass completion % of any Crawley players who’s started more than 5 games though and a scan of their forum seems to indicate the general feeling is they’d like to keep him and he’s been playing pretty well. 
I’ve said this so many times but League 1 and 2 are the most difficult leagues to play in for technically good players who want to play football. It’s simply a battle ground of players who apart from a sprinkling of quality, are there for the physical qualities they bring. 
As an example the highest Average passes played per game by a player at Crawley is 51 and the next highest is 37 and then 34. Their goalkeeper is 4th in most passes played averaging 33 per game……and he has a % completion of 31.8% !!! Which tells you what he does with most of them!!!
By comparison Derby’s average passes per game sees 3 Centre backs and a gk in the top 4 all averaging over 46 passes per game, with the 3 CBs over 80% completion and Ryan Allsop at 63% completion!!
Derby have averaged 424 passes a game over 41 championship games. Crawley average 351 per game over 40 league 2 games!!
For Isaac it’s clearly been far more successful than his loan to Forest Green and he is now approaching 70 football league games under his belt. He’s a similar age to Watson who has a handful and Dixon  who’s yet to play in senior football.
As a comparison, Jordan Brown, who I rate highly, has been at Orient for 18 games and in that time has only :-
Started 3 games
Come on as a sub in 3
Been an unused sub in 5
Not made the squad in 7
As I said, league 2 is hard hard work and takes a long time to be trusted by managers and takes a long time to adapt….
 

Just had a good check up and to add a bit of detail to it….
The sub appearance at 12mins was v Swindon where he set up the winner (although it didn’t count as an assist) and scored in a 3-1 win…highlights are here if interested (from 1:15 onwards)
If you took that game as effectively a start Crawley have only lost once in those 8 games - winning 4 drawing 3 and losing 1. Whereas they have lost 4 of the 5 games that he hasn’t started.…
Not sure why he hasn’t started those games but being on loan is often a tricky….and League 2 isn’t always very accommodating of a young attacking midfielder when much of the game is a physical battle with the ball spending a considerable time off the ground!
He does have the highest pass completion % of any Crawley players who’s started more than 5 games though and a scan of their forum seems to indicate the general feeling is they’d like to keep him and he’s been playing pretty well. 
I’ve said this so many times but League 1 and 2 are the most difficult leagues to play in for technically good players who want to play football. It’s simply a battle ground of players who apart from a sprinkling of quality, are there for the physical qualities they bring. 
As an example the highest Average passes played per game by a player at Crawley is 51 and the next highest is 37 and then 34. Their goalkeeper is 4th in most passes played averaging 33 per game……and he has a % completion of 31.8% !!! Which tells you what he does with most of them!!!
By comparison Derby’s average passes per game sees 3 Centre backs and a gk in the top 4 all averaging over 46 passes per game, with the 3 CBs over 80% completion and Ryan Allsop at 63% completion!!
Derby have averaged 424 passes a game over 41 championship games. Crawley average 351 per game over 40 league 2 games!!
For Isaac it’s clearly been far more successful than his loan to Forest Green and he is now approaching 70 football league games under his belt. He’s a similar age to Watson who has a handful and Dixon  who’s yet to play in senior football.
As a comparison, Jordan Brown, who I rate highly, has been at Orient for 18 games and in that time has only :-
Started 3 games
Come on as a sub in 3
Been an unused sub in 5
Not made the squad in 7
As I said, league 2 is hard hard work and takes a long time to be trusted by managers and takes a long time to adapt….
 

???? 
I do hope you meant this with tongue in cheek……or you are in for a shock!

???? 
I do hope you meant this with tongue in cheek……or you are in for a shock!

???? 
I do hope you meant this with tongue in cheek……or you are in for a shock!

Shinnie is about to get promoted back into the championship. Why would he want to stay in league 1? He’s really not found it easy and his stats were more impressive at Derby struggling in the championship than they are at Wigan flying in league 1….
League 1 is a very very difficult league and will be a completely different ball game for many of our players physically and mentally. 
46 league games (nearly all will be physical battles of attrition, 4 relegation places, only two automatic promotion spots and on top of all the usual cups you have the additional games in the Papa Johns trophy. It’s brutal. 

It's a huge rebuild job and not just the first team but if we stick to that for now I think there are certain key things that you need to do well. Looks like League 1 now realistically (yes I know, it's not over until its over and all that) but I think we need to address some key weaknesses.
We need a striker who can score pretty regularly and who can lead the line against the sort of uncompromising defenders that we'll face. That's not to say that we need some lumbering 6ft 7 man mountain, just someone who is not going to be bullied and ideally who has a bit of pace and is capable in the air. The difficulty is that this sort of player is on the shopping list of anyone who wants to progress in the EFL so with wage constraints and EFL approved budgets (probably in League 1) we are going to need to shop smart and not expect to sign some household name who was up there in the Championship scoring charts a couple of seasons back. We perhaps have to look at places like Scotland which can hopefully provide players with the sort of hard working physical attributes that will be needed to thrive. I can't name names unfortunately as I don't watch much football outside of the Championship but I suspect that I might start to do so if we are allowed to actually sign people again at some stage.
Aside from that I think we need some bite in midfield, particularly in away games where we have been found badly wanting. The away form has killed us and made the 21 points a near impossible task. We're 2nd from bottom based on away form but 10th and just 4 points from top on home form and if we somehow beat Fulham we could be 2nd on home form alone.. That has to be corrected and usually that is about being brave and positive when you are away from home and I think if we are guilty of anything it is perhaps being a little timid away. However you do it you need a foothold in the game though and I think that starts in CM.
Thirdly we need goals from around the team to build on the work of the focal point striker. Lawrence's goals have been really important but he is surely headed elsewhere and we are desperate for a general threat from across the team. We are losing games away in particular by fine margins as often as not and not being clinical with what we create will help us snatch points in some games and put the game to bed in others.

Jeez ? 
Apart from Haydon Roberts who was on loan at Rochdale last season, when they were relegated from league 1, I don’t think that BHA side had much if any Football League experience 

4-1…this isn’t even a weak 23s line up….

Don’t even get Twitter updates these days. Have to check BHAs feed ?

Can’t believe Bird’s red is still being debated, photo footage shows it clearly was. Foot off the ground and caught his shin. Their red card was more dubious…..

Your ‘point’ is an assumption based on perception, that’s driven by media. 
Of course I’m assuming you haven’t met his agent? It’s quite possible he’s known him since he was 14. Spent time with him and his family building a relationship which is why he’s still his agent at 20. You have no solid information whatsoever that he or any other agent is greedy other than perception. 
The agents job, what he gets huge sums of money for, is to try to assist the player to have the longest, most successful and financially secure career possible and to secure that future as soon as possible.
He was faced with a player being at a club who could offer him no contract. He was also faced with sitting and waiting until they could (risking a career ending injury with no contractual cover) and then being a League 1 player, or leaving for a fee that the club receive instead of the player receiving or options limited due to the fee Derby (the business) place on his head in their valuation. 
Or….secure him a contract at a Serie A club, one of the very elite leagues in Europe, with a healthy signing on fee, with a contract paying a handsome wage and security for the foreseeable future.
Like it or not, taking the emotion out of the decision, his agent has done the very best for Festy. His client. Of course he got paid for it. He’s done his job bloody well.
 
 

Unfortunately you can't really blame him. Even if we were in a relatively normal situation a move to either Serie A or a team coming down from the prem would be difficult to fend off. At the moment it's just completely impossible. No-one can speak about the agent or the player's motives with any degree of accuracy so it's better just to leave it on that score. He's a very good impact player who is very raw. He could be a diamond in the future or end up closer to coal if he doesn't get his technique, vision and general awareness sorted. I'll be sad to see him go as he's put in a good shift and has shown passion for the shirt like everyone else this season. 

Deep down i know, im just pissed off with watching our club get ruined like a slow death 

Fair play sort your own futures out, but him and Plange have not had a decent game for us since they opted out.

It’s exactly what I said, regardless of how I said it and no you’re right there’ll be more I said that’ll turn out true too ?

It’s exactly what I said, regardless of how I said it and no you’re right there’ll be more I said that’ll turn out true too ?

It’s exactly what I said, regardless of how I said it and no you’re right there’ll be more I said that’ll turn out true too ?

I wouldn't say we dominated Cardiff. They looked comfortable in general and let us have possession. 4 of the 5 players who had the most touches of the ball for us against Cardiff came from the backline I believe. I think too often people equate % of possession with domination. A draw would have been fair but as soon as we needed to go forward more they started to cut us open. At the end of the day the away form hasn't come close to our home form. This isn't much of a critique btw I think wayne has done an excellent job this year but away from home we have struggled to pick up points. 

Since signing for Crystal Palace, for some reason it hasn't worked as well. 
Someone on here astutely wrote that maybe centre forward isn't actually his best position. It might turn out to be the case. I think he's wonderful at holding the ball up but lacks some confidence in front of goal. 
If you watch Ravel Morrison's wonder goal against Barnsley. When it goes through Ravel's legs, the dummy to Plange, no way would any confident centre forward pass that back to Ravel. He would deal with it himself and score. Still, it worked out well. 

That isn’t what has been said or implied Re : Ebiowei. Do you work for the Daily Mail now Ghost?
Oh and I’ve written extensively and knowledgeably over the last 2/3 days on the Academy thread. I really wouldn’t call that “lurking”.
I expected better from you tbh ?

That isn’t what has been said or implied Re : Ebiowei. Do you work for the Daily Mail now Ghost?
Oh and I’ve written extensively and knowledgeably over the last 2/3 days on the Academy thread. I really wouldn’t call that “lurking”.
I expected better from you tbh ?

That’s not unusual and it’s certainly not exclusive to Derby County.
The scouts from all clubs not just the elite are always in attendance at most games at most age groups.
Of course the elite are looking for the 1%…..that every club has….what they will call a “Rolls Royce” in each age group but the other clubs will also have an eye on who may be getting released so they get in early to pick up the pieces. Remember every club are only really catering for 3/4 players in each age group….the rest (barring the 1/2 identified as late developers) are facilitating their development by making up the numbers for a team….
When I worked at a Cat 1 academy we were advised to try and not use audible names during games to give the scouts as hard a time as possible identifying players. 

92 football league clubs are allowed a maximum of 250 players in their academy at any one time. Some won’t fill that quota of course. But even allowing for that that’s approx 20,000 players….
Im not sure I have it in me to even comprehend the math as it’s an extremely nuanced process but there’s a constant trickle down effect with players being released from each age group every year.
However at the top end, at best, only half of the U16s will receive scholarships, possibly less than a third depending on the club and whether they have invested in Irish or European players that weren’t ever part of the English academy system. At the club I worked at they only planned on taking 4-6 scholars from their own system each season despite the u16s squad being as large as 18 players. The rest would be made up from released players from other clubs and foreign youngsters.
From the scholarship group of 20 players (approx) made up of two year groups maybe only 4-6 are given pro deals, often less than that. From those half dozen players 1 or 2 may make first team appearances within their pro contract period and even from those that do, not many will go on to earn a living and make a career out the game. 
It’s why I refuse to get over excited, despite the number of players currently getting opportunities here at Derby County, of the prospects of where or what level they’ll all end up playing. I’ve seen too many ‘dead certs’ disappear and I’ve seen players with 40/50 games under their belts move on and never get another pro deal anywhere.
Making a debut is one thing but given the reasons why so many are making debuts the chances of them going on and having full careers are still incredibly low. The numbers we are currently seeing at our club are incredibly warped for obvious reasons.
There are 92 clubs all bursting at the seams  with pro footballers all bursting at the seams financially with budgets that are overblown. To take players in they have to offer something their current players don’t offer and that’s hard for young players who are caught in a chicken and egg situation of needing experience and having no experience…..clubs with a tight budget (most of them) are balancing the books and weighing up possible sell ons with results and staying alive. 
None of that even considers the sheer number of unemployed ex pro footballers there are who are still at an age where they aren’t considered retired!
Pro football is an obscenely, disgustingly cut throat, horrible business. In favour one moment cast aside the next, for no apparent reason. It’s why I never ever begrudge a player of any age striking while the iron is hot when a club shows interest. It’s not disloyal it’s fighting fire with fire. I’ve seen players playing regularly and attracting interest from another club, to be cast aside or lose form and the club that was desperate to keep them dont want them and the club that was desperate to take them…don’t want them….all in the space of 4 months!!!